Jordan stunting Wizards' growth.(Chicago Tribune)

Byline: Sam Smith

CHICAGO _ What if I truly had a point? What if Michael Jordan had stayed with the Bulls instead of going to the Washington Wizards? What if Jordan had become general manager and then a player? Would the Bulls have been better off?

On Saturday in Washington, the Bulls faced Jordan as a player for the final time. The Bulls_as is their custom for the last five years_are out of the playoff race and Jordan's Wizards are in a battle for one of the last playoff spots.

There's no doubt these last two Bulls' seasons would have been considerably more exciting if Jordan had been here. Chicago again would have been talking NBA basketball. That has been perhaps the biggest crime of the Bulls' slow rebuilding. There are exciting regular season games, statements, playoff previews such as Friday's between Dallas and Sacramento. Games like that will go on all around the NBA the next six weeks. They once did here.

They'll go on for the Wizards, too, as Jordan tries to finish his career in the playoffs in what he insists is his last season.

But what is the price for Jordan's swan song?

As Washington heads into the stretch run, it has made spectators of its young players. The No. 1 pick from 2001, Kwame Brown, rarely plays. Since the All-Star break, he has gone scoreless in two games, sat out Thursday's win over the Rockets and is averaging 4.7 points in 15.3 minutes in the others.